It is a nice place… The Village Batroun is a colorful village made of wooden boxes, a handful of restaurants offering various cuisines from around the world. Wagon, Crumb, Lord of the Wings, Icy Scoop, Classic Burger Joint, Wrapidose, Falafel Karim Sahyoun, Lemon Garden, Kaye Sushi, Semsom, Crepico, Special Chawarma, Saladio, Fahita's and two others that have not opened yet.
A unified décor connects all the restaurants together. Light music plays in the background of the main seating area made of wooden tables and benches, but one thing I recommend drastically is to set up some ventilators. It’s super hot out there.
Walking around the new space, I decided to try Classic burger Joint, Semsom and Crepico. Let's see if the quality is as good as their main branches.
- Classic Burger comes in an interesting grain bun, tomatoes, pickles, cheddar cheese and onions. The Juicy Lucy is good but the melted cheddar covers over the meat taste. The bun is toasted warm with fresh tomato for the sweetness and crunchy lettuce. Enjoyable local fries and a box of mayonnaise loaded coleslaw salad.
- The burger have made it a long way, there’s a clear improvement but still the meat is gooey like a hardened meat paste with an unpleasant hard border. The taste is more of spices than meat. It saddens me to have to feel this in a CBJ.
- Semsom with their famous dough has a Saj, grill and hummus plates. We had the Labneh with spiced chatta, which I usually order at the souk.
- And now for Crepico! Oh my God, this is much more than food. The pancakes are breathtaking. The quality and equilibrated taste… Delicious. The crepe bag comes with molten marshmallow and Nutella and the waffle bathing in Nutella; Amazing! Back to the pancake, it will leave you speechless. The bananas, the Nutella, its fluffiness, its charm... Really, bravo!
Good food is served here but I'm not sure about the concept. I believe the place needs more life, more fans to push away the heat while every restaurant's staff requires to be trained better, to be a bit more joyful.
I would go at night since the place is deserted during the day.
The Village Batroun is now open; an interesting place for summer gatherings. I am not sure what their plans are for winter though.
